Title card from a DHARMA Initiative orientation film featured in the Lost episode Orientation

The DHARMA Initiative is a fictional research project featured in the American television series Lost. It was first discussed in the second-season episode Orientation. DHARMA has been confirmed as an acronym by the show's creators, although what it stands for has not yet been revealed. ImageMetadata File history File links Dharma_initiative_logo_video. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Dharma_initiative_logo_video. ... This article is about the current drama series. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ... This article is about the current drama series. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ...

Background

Most of what is currently known about the DHARMA Initiative comes from an orientation film, ^[1] found inside an underground bunker on the island, that outlines the purpose and instructions for Station 3: The Swan. The film has a copyright date of 1980 and is designated as the third of six such films. Dr. Marvin Candle (played by François Chau) narrates the film, which is noticeably cut or damaged in places. Bunkers in Albania A bunker is a defensive military fortification. ... Copyright symbol. ... François Chau (born October 26, 1959 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia) is a Cambodian actor best known for his role as Dr. Marvin Candle/Mark Wickman in ABCs Lost, and as Shredder in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. ...

Gerald DeGroot as seen in the DHARMA Initiative Orientation film for Station 3 The Swan.

The film begins by providing background history of the DHARMA Initiative. It states that the Initiative was founded in 1970 by University of Michigan doctoral candidates Karen and Gerald de Groot and financed by the Hanso Foundation, apparently composed of a group of "scientists and free thinkers" from around the world who were brought together at a "large-scale communal research compound" on the island to conduct research in various disciplines, including meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and a sixth discipline that the film begins to identify as "utopian social . . . ." before being cut off. American psychologist and Walden Two author B.F. Skinner is cited as an influence on the de Groots' work. According to Hugh McIntyre of the Hanso Foundation, the DHARMA Initiative was canceled in 1987.^[2] ImageMetadata File history File links Tv_lost_gerald_degroot. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Tv_lost_gerald_degroot. ... This article is about the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. ... In the world of the television series Lost, The Hanso Foundation was formed by arms purveyor Alvar Hanso, who turned his attention from keeping the world safe through the development of sophisticated weapons systems to focus instead on the development of new technologies to create a brighter future for all... Community is a set of people (or agents in a more abstract sense) with some shared element. ... Satellite image of Hurricane Hugo with a polar low visible at the top of the image. ... Psychology (Gk: psyche, soul or mind + logos, speech) is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. ... Parapsychology is the scientific study of the evidence of mental awareness or influence of external objects without interaction from known physical means. ... Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field, encompassing all of space, which exerts a force on those particles that possess the property of electric charge, and is in turn affected by the presence and motion of such particles. ... A psychologist is a scientist who studies psychology, the systematic investigation of the human behavior and mental processes. ... Walden Two is a novel published in 1948 by B. F. Skinner, who intended it to describe a utopia. ... Burrhus Frederic Skinner (March 20, 1904 _ August 18, 1990) was an American psychologist and author. ...

Research stations

Main article: DHARMA Initiative stations

The DHARMA Initiative has placed several research stations around the island, which take the form of hidden, underground facilities or bunkers. The first to be discovered by the survivors is "Station 3" or "The Swan" which they refer to informally as "the hatch" and have since occupied. Three additional stations have since been visited: "The Pearl," "The Arrow," and "The Staff." Each of these facilities has a particular logo associated with it: an octagon with an interior based on the bagua design, with a differing symbol at the center. On the American television show Lost, the fictional DHARMA Initiative has built several research stations on an island located somewhere in the South Pacific. ... A scientific method or process is considered fundamental to the scientific investigation and acquisition of new knowledge based upon physical evidence. ... A bunker is a defensive warfare fortification to protect oneself. ... A logotype (from the Greek λογότυπο), commonly known as a logo, is the graphic element, symbol, and icon of a trademark or brand, which is set in a special typeface or arranged in a particular way. ... A regular octagon. ... The bagua (Chinese: 八卦; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: pa kua; literally eight trigrams) is a fundamental philosophical concept in ancient China. ...

A section of film is discovered by Mr. Eko inside a second, but apparently inactive, station where the survivors from the tail section of the plane were living in season one. In "What Kate Did", this portion of filmstock, hidden in a hollowed-out Bible, is given to John Locke who splices it into the orientation film. The additional section completes an admonishment against station orientees attempting to use the station's computer system to communicate with the outside world. Mr. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... John Locke is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Terry OQuinn. ...

In "?", Mr. Eko and Locke discover Station 5, "The Pearl" which has an orientation of its own on a video tape. It also has a copyright date of 1980. On this tape, someone who looks just like Marvin Candle identifies himself as Dr. Mark Wickman. According to the video, the Pearl station is intended to observe and document activity in another station on the island. It explains that a psychological experiment is taking place in another station, where team members have been conditioned to believe their work is of great importance. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ...

Trivia

• While DHARMA has been confirmed by the writers to be an acronym, ^[3] Dharma is also a Sanskrit term with several meanings in different religious contexts, including "natural law", "reality", "truth" and "duty".
• In the Buddhist religion, Dharma can mean either the teachings (of Buddhism) or simply "phenomenon" (both mental and physical) -- with the further understanding that mental and physical phenomena cannot be entirely separated, and all phenomena are interconnected, a possible clue to the purpose of the island.
• A DHARMA Initiative symbol appears on the tail of a shark that attacks Michael and Sawyer in the episode "Adrift".
• Marvin Candle's left arm does not move throughout the orientation film. In the show's official podcast, creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse confirmed that Candle's hand is a prosthetic. However, in the episode "?" he appears in a second orientation film, identifying himself as "Mark Wickman" and with both hands intact.
• In "Live Together, Die Alone," Sawyer jokingly expresses his belief that the DHARMA Initiative scientists are actually space aliens.
• The Bagua wheel that is in the DHARMA Initiative logo is backwards/upside down (the northwest corner of the wheel is in the south east in the logo).

Dharma (Sanskrit धर्म) or Dhamma (Pāli) means Natural Law or Reality, and with respect to its significance for spirituality and religion might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. ... Sanskrit ( संस्कृतम् ; pronunciation: ) is an Indo-European classical language of India and a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... The term podcasting is a portmanteau of the words iPod and broadcasting. ... Damon L. Lindelof is a television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator, producer and head writer for the hit television series Lost. ... Carlton Cuse is a television writer and executive, most recently for the ABC television series Lost where he serves as writer and executive producer. ... A United States soldier demonstrates Foosball with two prosthetic limbs In medicine, a prosthesis is an artificial extension that replaces a missing part of the body. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with List of Lost episodes. ... Live Together, Die Alone (Parts 1 and 2) are the season finale episodes of the drama television series Lost (TV series). ... James Sawyer Ford is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Josh Holloway. ... Extraterrestrial life is life that may exist and originate outside our planet Earth. ...

References

1. ^ Orientation film for Station 3- the Swan quicktime movie at fansite http://thedharmainitiative.org
2. ^ Hugh McIntyre interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live
3. ^ "Official Lost Podcast" 17 January 2006.

Jimmy Kimmel James Christian Kimmel (born November 13, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York), known simply as Jimmy Kimmel, is an American television talk-show host and comedian. ...

External links

• Quicktime version of the Orientation film for Station 3: The Swan
• The Hanso Foundation homepage